Norwell senior Eli Johnson and Bluffton freshman Levi Johns each placed eighth in their weight class in Saturday’s IHSAA state wrestling finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Johnson and Johns each won their first-round matchups on Friday to clinch a spot in the top eight.
Johnson (39-4), competing in the 170-pound class, lost to Evansville Mater Dei’s Brody Baumann (35-0) in his first match on Saturday by fall.
Baumann went on to win the state championship, pinning his next opponent and winning his final match by 14-2 major decision.
Johnson then lost to Jimtown’s Landon Buchanan (42-4) by a 5-1 decision, sending him to the seventh-place match. He met Indianapolis Cathedral’s JJ Braun (37-9) in that final match, which he lost by a 5-2 decision.
It was Johnson’s second trip to the state finals and his first time placing.
This season, Johnson also captured conference, sectional, and regional championships before placing third at the semi-state tournament.
For Johns, it was his first trip. Like Johnson, he was not able to pick up any wins in that final eight in his 106-pound weight class.
Johns (40-4) lost his first match Saturday to Southport’s Nathan Smith (50-1) by fall, followed by an 11-2 major decision loss to River Forest’s Jeffrey Bailey (37-2). Johns then faced Evansville Mater Dei’s Isaiah Schaefer (36-5) in the seventh-place match, but lost by fall.
Johns also captured conference, sectional, and regional championships this season and placed third in his class at semi-state.
Bluffton senior Landon Bertsch (33-3) also made the trip down to state, but lost his first match on Friday.
It was Bertsch’s fourth time competing in the state finals.
